And The Aftermath
by L. D. Nicolescu
Summary: Satoru wonders on the state of his life. He was supposed to have died a the Iwagakure battle, yet here he is living and breathing. But there is something in his right wrist, something that hadn't been there before. Sequel to Pandemonium.


**In the Aftermath**

* * *

_"Did you know that before you came into my life It was some kind of miracle that I survived Some day we will both look back And have to laugh We lived through a lifetime And the aftermath."_

_Billy Joel, This Is the Time._

_Sequel to Pandemonium._

* * *

Marriage. That's the only word that came to mind whenever I looked at the seal in my right wrist. Kushina had once told me that the most complex of seals had the simplest designs, something I never understood. How did this two circles encompassing each other more effective that the one my family had at the temple guarding the our clans secret scrolls? I had always assumed that more diagrams and words meant more protectiveness from the seal, yet, according to the book I currently had in my lap, this was one of the most complex and hardest seal a ninja could make. Well that and that it had been variedly used between married couples. Which brought another question, why had Kushina used this seal specifically on me?

I wasn't able to ponder more on the subject, because the nurse that was in charge of rounds tonight paid me a visit. Since I wasn't supposed to be up and about, I hid the book under my pillow and pretended to be asleep. I knew that if she'd catch me, I would be in big trouble and there was enough pain in my body to yet add another one. Unfortunately for me, Aki didn't buy it.

"You are never going to get better if you keep sneaking out the window," she chastised, taking the chart from my bed and scribbling something on it. "You'll be forced to stay here and occupy a bed that should be put to better use."

I sat up from the sleeping position and sighed. "That's why I keep asking doctor Arisu to let me go. All my wounds have healed. I have no concussion and I've never felt better in my whole life. I still don't understand what am I doing here?"

"You died," Aki looked directly at me with those piercing eyes. Even after a back to back shift she looked as domineering and full of energy as if this was her first stop. "Kiroshi said you had no pulse, but next thing you know, you are up and fighting against the Kumo nin. No body dies and comes back that effectively. Something must have happened in that battle field. Something that neither you or Kushina or Minato-kun is telling us."

"So I'm here to be studied?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest. "I'm just lab rat to you."

"You are our patient. And until doctor Arisu decides you are well enough to leave you are staying here." She scribbled something else in my chart and looked at the machines besides my bed. I knew there was something else about my staying here that she wasn't telling me. There was just no way the dying and coming back to life part could be studied if my wounds had been completely healed. There was something else that the doctors were interested in. And I was willing to bet it had something to do with the seal in my wrist.

"Has Kushina been around?" I asked, massaging a sore spot near my heart. That had been the place where the Kumo nin sword had pierced me, cutting all the ligaments that held the heart in place, causing an instant, and incredibly painful, death. "Has she been trying to come visit me?"

Aki never took her eyes off the machines. "She has, but not to see you specifically." Her face developed a frown that I couldn't understand. "She's been with Minato-kun this whole time. I've told her a million times that he needs rest, but she just doesn't get it. She keep coming everyday to see him."

"Oh," I murmured looking out at the full moon. "So Minato's here."

"He is," she beamed, her eyes turning dreamy. "And I was recently assigned to his wing."

I rolled my eyes. I would never understand what the fixation with Minato was all about. It was like he was the sun and had a natural gravity that made all the girls levitate toward him. You couldn't throw a stone in the village and not hit a girl that didn't have a crush on Minato. Even the married ones had a thing for him. Sure he was a good ninja, and he had nice eyes and a polite personality and had rescued Kushina when she was younger, but how was that any different from me? Didn't the Uchiha last name mean anything to her? And last I knew, we'd save each others asses more times that I could count in one hand. Not to mention that I had been her friend far longer than he had. Just because she felt like she owed him didn't entitled him to her attention. Just because he-

"There's not reason to be jealous of Minato, Satoru-chan," Aki patted me on the head like she always did when we were kids. "Kushina and Minato are just friends. He was just in more critical condition than you were and that's why she's been stuck to his bed this whole time. I know she'll come around when he gets better."

Damn that Aki. She had always been good at reading my thoughts. Something that had annoyed me ever since my father died and I had been forced to move in with her and her dad. Even if we were distant cousins, I still loved her like a sister. We certainly fought like siblings some times.

"Do you really think so?" that had sounded far less hopeful in my head, but I couldn't help the tone it had been delivered in. Minato and Kushina's relationship was something I had always been jealous off. There was a certain closeness about them that everyone could see. And that I could only hoped would only grow between with Kushina and me.

"I know so." She smiled kissing my forehead. "Now get some rest. It's late and you have a long day ahead tomorrow."

I muttered something incomprehensible and got under the covers, hoping the thoughts of Kushina and Minato would be replaced by some of she and I. There was just no denying it any longer. I was in love with her. And I was more than happy to be.

I woke up by the feeling of cool fingers on my forehead. It was a touch that reminded me back when my mother was still alive, how she would stroke my head until I fell asleep. It was the kind of touch that made you relax and wish you were still a kid, yet this one had a sudden urgency to it that forced me to open my eyes.

"Kushina," I said, rubbing my eyes with the back of my fingers. "I thought you were with Minato."

She smiled faintly at me. "I knew you would throw that in my face." She hung her head in defeat. "You just never let things go."

That made me slightly mad. "I've been in the hospital for three days. You haven't visited once."

"Not my choice," she raised her hands over her head, in a international sign of surrender. "The only reason I've been allowed to stay here is because Minato asked the Hokage himself. If it weren't for him, Danzo would have prosecuted me a long time ago."

Danzo, she said? What does that have to do with anything? And what was this thing about a prosecution? "What does Danzo want with you?" I asked, sitting in my bed now fully awake. "Why hasn't the Hokage done anything about it? You are under his strict orders, Danzo can't arrest you unless-"

"The Hokage signed the scroll," Kushina waved her hand in dismissal. That was just so typical of her. Every time things got a little serious she would rebuff them away. "But that's not the reason I'm here. I won't be able to stay long. Danzo and his minions have signed an arrest warrant. The Uchiha police will be coming for me in a few hours, probably to put me in jail so I can await my trial. But since I've never been good at giving up without a fight, I plan of leaving the village for a while. Until things settle down."

"Leave the village?" I asked, frowning in my confusion. "Leave where?"

She smiled. "You sound exactly like Minato." She put a hand on my cheek and stroke it. "I have a ninja friend in Kumo. I've already talked to him and he agreed to help me hide until things settle down here. You know the Hokage can't go against Danzo and his advisers unless the whole jonin rank agrees with him." I opened my mouth to protest but she caught me off. "Don't worry, I'm not turning rogue. I'm just leave for a small vacation if you will."

I still wasn't convinced about this. "We are at war with Kumo. How do you plan on hiding there when they have orders to kill every Konoha nin they come across with?"

"I told you," she said taking my hands. "I have a friend there. He's got family in high places and they have agreed to let me stay with them (hidden off course) if I teach them some of my sealing techniques. Apparently they've found a new host for the eight-tails and need my help sealing it."

"A jinchuriki?" I asked baffled. How could she speak of such things with a smile on her face. And most importantly, why is she helping them turn someone into something she despises? "You are going to help them make a Jinchuiriki? A human sacrifice?"

She shook her head ignoring my question. "Listen I don't have time to explain. I must leave in a couple of minutes. Inoichi is on guard and he has agreed to help me escape. This is my only chance of leaving the village without them knowing. This is all top secret. Not even Mianto knows." She looked over her shoulder at the clock opposite my bed and cursed under her bed. "I only have a few more minutest to spare and I wasn't really planning on telling you in the first place."

"So why are you here then?" I asked, because if she was waisting her precious escape time on me, there must be a serious reason behind that.

She looked down at our interwind hands encouraging me to do the same. There, on her right hand, was the same seal I had on my, it was an exact replica of her, only that hers had a small symbol where the circles separated.

"I'm here to explain about this." She said, taking my wrist in her hands. "I'm the one who made this."

"The marriage seal?" I asked, blushing deep red. Kushina had made a seal that was meant for married people? Why? Was she indirectly asking me to marry her?

"Marriage seal?" She asked, shooting her head up to look at me.

I turned a deeper shade of red and thanked the early hours of the morning for its lack of light. I don't think I could explain to her why I was blushing.

"Erm," I stammered, looking at her hands and struggling to find the words. "I mean, I...read on a book that this seal was mostly used on people who were married. It was a symbol of how much they loved each other and what life without the other would mean."

Her frowned deepened, but I wasn't surprised. Kushina could be on of the most hard headed girls in the village. Anything relate to romance was alien to her. Well, everything except when it came to Minato.

"Um, no," she said, searching my eyes for something. She continued speaking but I wasn't listening to her, since those violet eyes of her were now looking at me. The moon must have been covered by some clouds, since in those next few seconds it's light illuminated my room, reflecting its light into Kushina's eyes, making them seem more silver than violet. The girl with the silver eyes. That's what she was to me right at that moment. "...and so now our lives are connected."

"Huh?" I blinked, forcing myself to pay attention to what she was speaking. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember what happened?" She asked, a look of worry on her face. "That day?"

Did I? I wasn't too sure. Things were still more than blurry. Last thing I remembered was Kushina telling me about the Kyuubi struggling inside of her, all that sight of blood and evil got his blood pumping and he was begging her to take part in the fight, then an Iwa nin attacked us and was ready to pull the final blow on Kushina, but Minato saved her before that happened. I remember the pain in my chest and how suddenly my life was bleeding out of me. I had murmured to Minato to save Kushina. He would have to cut her head off if she lose control. That had been my promise to her.

"If I ever lose control of Kyuubi," she had said, a dark sad look on her face. "You must kill be before I can hurt anyone else. Promise me, Sato. Promise me you won't hesitate."

Then, I remember Kushina yelling at me, and last thing I remembered was waking up in this hospital. So, no, I didn't know what had happened.

"You died," Kushina explained, "and I brought you back, with this." She took my hand and showed me the seal. "It's a link seal. Our chakras, our lives are interwind.


End file.
